1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to improvements in a method and apparatus for removing individual railway ties from a railroad track system without disturbing adjacent or other components of the system. The method and apparatus accomplish the desired end of removing a complete tie with a minimum of disturbance to the right-of-way, the track line or the ballast adjacent the tie as well as allowing removal of the tie from either end with a minimum side clearance requirement.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Typical examples of prior art may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,496,883, 3,881,422, 3,948,185 and 4,047,280. On one hand, these patents illustrate a system that requires the actual cutting away of the wood on the top part of a tie so that it may be withdrawn from one side or the other or, on the other hand, illustrate the use of a vibratory element to displace, by compaction, material from or under a tie to allow the tie to drop down underneath the rails so that it may be withdrawn from either side. The difficulty with the brute force cutting concept ought be readily apparent to those skilled in the art and is believed to have fallen into disuse by the industry with which my invention is concerned. The use of a vibratory force either to displace ballast to one side or in a downward direction is also believed to be incongruent with the principles of ballast beds for railway track systems. The use of the vibratory technique tends to compact the ballast in the very area in which it is desired to maintain the proper ballast density or distribution and relationship. Further, where a vibrating probe is to be inserted completely under the length of a tie to be removed, the difficulties of working between adjacent railway lines and on narrow right-of-ways is believed to be readily apparent as well as the clear, inherent difficulties of physically moving a vibrating probe completely underneath a tie to displace ballast with a V-shaped tip.